They were WHAT?
by Revolutionary Venom
Summary: How could a 3 day weekend possibly get any worse?
1. Chapter 1

Hallo again! This is an old story I wrote forever ago; it's so old, that one of the original lines was "Let's go see the Italian Job!" I think it was influenced on summer boredom, and the fact that I wanted to see that movie.

Anyway, this story doesn't take place in any specific time. It just....takes place. So it has nothing to do with any of my other stories.

/_armor bond speak/_

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors. Never have, never will

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"Finally! Three day weekend!" Ryo exclaimed happily, slamming his locker shut. "No homework, no recent Dynasty attacks to ruminate upon, and a stocked kitchen," Sage said, pulling a binder out of his locker. "I think we should be completely settled for awhile." Wildfire looked excited enough to jump out of his skin. "C'mon Sage, the others are probably waiting!" he finally exclaimed, running down the halls to the doors that would take him to the outdoor world. "Ryo! Wait up!" Sage shouted, slamming his own locker and running after the hyper warrior.

---------------------------------

"I wonder where Ryo and Sage are," Cye said.

"I dunno, but if they don't hurry up, I'm willing to armor up and fly home!" Rowen burst out. "That would be unethical Rowen," Cye said.

Kento just ignored this little conversation, leaning against the back of the suburban, massaging his temples. _I do _not_ need this headache,_ he thought.

"Kento?" Cye questioned. "You feel okay?"

Hardrock turned his attention to his concerned friend. " 'M okay Cye, it's just a little headache," he assured him, even if it wasn't true.

"Need some medicine?" asked Rowen, taking out a bottle of Advil from his pocket. "That's okay Ro, I think I'll survive."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Cye asked again. He had been observing this odd behavior from Kento all day. Hardrock had fallen asleep during almost every class, except Gym and Chemistry, had been stumbling during the soccer game that had been going on during the gym class, and had not eaten the unusually large amounts of food that he normally did during lunch. In fact, he had barely eaten at all.

"I'm sure Cye, I'm fine," Kento reassured him. He looked off in the distance. "Here they come."

Ryo and Sage finally reached their destination. "Sorry guys, Mrs. Hatsuki wanted to talk to me after class," Ryo said sheepishly. The others looked at Sage. "Yes, my fan club was after me again. I swear, those girls drive me crazy! If it hadn't been for Ryo, I'd still be stuck back there."

Ryo took a heroic stance. "Yes, once again, Ryo of the Wildfire comes to the rescue! Saving people from giant fan clubs everywhere!"

"Hey, big hero of fan clubs," Rowen said. "Let's go home."

Everyone started to pile into the suburban when Cye approached Kento. "Can I drive Kento? You look like you're beat." Kento shook his head. "I'm fine Cye, really I am."

"Please?" Cye asked again, holding his hand out. Hardrock sighed and placed the keys in Cye's hand. "Okay, but just this once." Cye smiled and switched places with Kento...

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"So what do you guys want to do this weekend?" asked Rowen, who had taken the front seat. "We could go see some good movies," Sage suggested. "What do you wanna do Kento?" asked Ryo.

No response came.

"Kento?" Ryo asked again, turning to face the very backseat of the suburban.

"What's wrong?" Cye inquired, who was driving.

"He's asleep," Sage answered, looking back at Kento.

"Wonder how long he's been out," Ryo said. Cye pulled up next to the house, announcing, "We're home."

Everyone piled out of the truck, except Sage, who opened the backseat up and attempted to wake up Hardrock. "Hey buddy, wake up, we're home," Sage said softly, shaking Kento's shoulders a little. Kento moaned sleepily but didn't wake up. "C'mon Ken, you can sleep all you want when we get inside." Kento still didn't awaken.

Sage thought that this was beginning to get annoying. "He won't wake up?" asked Torrent, making his way to the side that Sage had sat on. "No, and I don't know why," Sage answered.

"Let me try," Cye suggested, getting an idea. Sage moved out and Cye poked his head into the truck. "Kento, if you don't wake up and come out this instant, I'll make you eat Rowen's cooking for an entire week."

Kento immediately awoke and jumped outside onto the lawn. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" he exclaimed. "Please don't make me eat the food Ro cooks!!" Everybody laughed at this, except Kento, who was petrified.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do that to you," Cye said, after he got over his laughing fit. Kento relaxed a little. "C'mon, we've got a three day weekend to start!" Ryo said, leading the way into the house, Hardrock being the last in line. _Man, I feel like crap....._

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The boys had changed into regular clothes and were planning their three day weekend in the dining room.

Well, not everybody was present; Kento hadn't been seen since their arrival home.

"Movie night!" Rowen exclaimed. "Now the only question is, what to watch," Ryo said. "Yeah, and what dinner will be," Cye said, sighing.

"What's wrong Cye?" Sage asked. "The stove's on the fritz," Torrent answered. "I can't cook anything, even if I wanted to."

Sage sighed. "Okay, now there's the take out question. Who wants what from where?"

"Wait a second, we can't decide anything with out Kento here," Ryo pointed out. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

The others shrugged. "Last time I saw him, he was going upstairs," Sage said, getting up. "I think I'll go check up on him, just in case."

---------------------------------

When they had gotten home, Kento was exhausted. He had tried to change, but he had only succeeded in taking his shirt off before becoming too tired to try anymore. So, he had just given up, curled up on his bed and had fallen asleep.

Sage peeked into the room. Seeing Kento on his bed, Sage cautiously made his way into the room when he spotted the uniform shirt on the floor. He picked it up, noticing that it was somewhat damp. Upon closer inspection of the person who had worn it, Halo noticed that a light sheen of sweat layered itself upon Kento's body. He realized what this meant.

_/Cye, come up here with the thermometer/_

_/What's wrong Sage?/_

_/It's Kento, I think he's coming down with something, his uniform shirt is damp and he doesn't look so good /_

A few minutes later, Cye, followed by Rowen and Ryo, appeared in the room. "Help me wake him up," Sage said.

But they didn't have to. Kento moaned, rolled over onto his back, and started to wake up. He opened his eyes to be met with one violet one, full of concern. "What's up guys?" Kento asked, sitting himself up. "You feeling okay Kento?" Cye asked. "I feel fine," Hardrock answered. "Why?"

Ryo thrust the thermometer into Kento's mouth, a puzzled look upon the warrior in question's face. "We want to make sure you're okay," Wildfire told him.

When the thermometer beeped, Sage removed the object and inspected what it was telling him. "Whoa, Kento," he awed. "Your temperature is 102.5."

Kento just looked up at him in disbelief. "I feel bad, but I don't feel _that_ bad," he said. "Why didn't you tell us you felt bad?" asked Rowen.

"I...I thought I felt bad cuz I stayed up late studying for the Chemistry test we had today." Kento said. "I didn't realize that I was actually sick, but I didn't want to ruin the weekend-" He was cut off by a coughing fit that seized control. He turned his back on the other Ronins, covering his mouth, attempting to speak while he did. "I'm *cough* sorry..." And the coughing ensued.

Cye walked around to the other side of the bed and sat next to Kento. He patted Hardrock on the back to try and stop the coughing. Kento finally stopped and gasped for air, collapsing onto the bed. "It's okay Kento," Cye told him, helping Kento lay back in the bed. "Everyone has the right to be sick every once in a while, it's not your fault. But you still should've told us that you felt bad. Just rest and try to get rid of this fever so you won't have to be sick for long, okay?"

Kento nodded, too tired to argue. "Ya cold Kento?" asked Rowen. Hardrock nodded as he shivered.

Rowen left the room, saying, "I'll bring you some blankets in a sec." Ryo followed him. "Wait, I'll help you!"

Cye went to Kento's dresser, pulled a drawer open, and took out a pair of soft blue pants and a gray night shirt. He brought them back to Kento. "These will be a lot more comfortable than a uniform, no?" Torrent patted Hardrock on top of the head. "I'll bring you some soup in a little while." With that, he left.

Sage picked up the shirt that had been discarded onto the floor and when Kento had taken them off, Halo took the rest of the uniform. "I'll go dump these in the hamper."

Kento was thus left alone. He pulled on his pajamas and lay back on his bed, pulling the covers with him. He was almost asleep when Rowen and Ryo returned. "Hey buddy, these will help you keep warm," Strata said, unfolding the blankets and covering Kento with them. "Warmer?" Kento nodded, noticing that Ryo was laying a towel next to the bed. "What's that for?" Hardrock asked. "It's just in case you feel really sick and can't get to the bathroom on time," Ryo told him, standing back up. Rowen ruffled Kento's hair. "You get to feeling better, okay? You don't want to miss an entire three day weekend," he said before he and Ryo left.

Sage then returned with a bowl of cold water and a compress. He took a seat next to Kento, putting the objects on the nightstand. He wrung out the compress and laid it across the sick warrior's forehead. "Feel better?" Sage asked. Kento nodded, his eyes only half open. "Rest now Kento. You probably just need a good night's sleep. If you feel better tomorrow, we'll do something fun....."

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Sunlight pouring into the window was what woke Kento up the next morning. He yawned and stretched, sitting up in bed. "Maybe Sage was right about that good night's sleep thing," he thought aloud. "I feel a whole lot better today." He got out of bed and started to get dressed in his favorite orange shirt, a pair of worn out jeans and, of course, his bandanna. As he got dressed, he thought aloud.

"What can I convince the guys to do today? I know! I can persuade them to go to the new arcade that just opened. Yeah, that'll be fun! Now the only question is, what do I say that will want them to go?"

He inspected himself in the mirror and found himself to his liking. "All right! Today's gonna be a great day, I can feel it!" He wandered into the hall, humming to himself. But he realized something was very odd. (Well, as unusual as things get with the Ronins)

It was super quiet around the house.

"I wonder were everyone is?" he thought aloud. Usually someone was up, but he didn't hear any arguing, no talking whatsoever. He shrugged this off and headed downstairs to the kitchen. He peeked into the kitchen, expecting to see Cye making breakfast or something. But what he saw was something that probably-no, _was_-against any sort of kitchen rule that is or was in existence.

Rowen was cooking scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon!

Kento almost fainted when he saw this. He was about to run away and shriek like a little girl in terror, but Rowen saw him and smiled. "Heya buddy, howya feeling this mornin'?" Strata greeted. Kento somehow worked his legs into the kitchen and got his mouth to move in response. "P-pretty good Ro. Are you feeling okay?" Rowen looked at him in confusion. "I guess so. Why?"

"No reason," Kento answered.

This was quite an odd spectacle. Usually when Rowen was ever in the kitchen, he was doing dishes, pulling leftovers out of the fridge, or Cye was teaching him how to cook. Like the one time Cye had left him alone with a simple cake recipe that only required a box of pudding mix, a cake mix, two eggs, some water, and sour cream. In the end, it had somehow turned purple, and couldn't keep its shape in the bunt pan that it was supposed to be cooked in. Basically, this had set the 'No Cooking Duty for Rowen' rule.

Kento watched in amazement as Rowen was flipping pancakes with ease. This was impossible! How could he become such a great cook? Then, Kento got an idea.

Coming around the counter, he tried to steal a piece of bacon.

*WHAP!!!*

"YOW!!!" Kento yelped, holding his injured hand. "You know the rule Kento!" Rowen exclaimed, pointing the wooden spoon in Kento's face. "No food until breakfast! Now get the bloody hell outta my kitchen!" Kento quickly retreated, still nursing his hand. "_That_ was scary," he said to himself. He went to the living room and let out a breath of relief when he found Cye there. But he noticed something was very wrong with this picture.

Cye was reading _War and Peace_.

Kento once again felt like he was about to faint, but he didn't feel the need to run and scream like a little girl. Cye looked up from his book to Kento. "Hey mate, feeling better this morning?"

Kento came into the room. "Yeah, I think so."

"You sure?" Cye asked. "You still look a little pale." He got up from the couch, making his way to Kento. He placed a hand on Hardrock's forehead. "No fever," Cye finally said, taking his hand away. "That's good." Typical Cye. Still a Mother Hen.

"I, uh, I think I'm gonna go look for the others," Kento said, before rushing out of the room, out the front door, and outside. "Okay, this is weird," he stated aloud. "First, Rowen is cooking with out confusing salt and sugar and with out blowing the house up. Now Cye is reading complicated literature that only Ro is supposed to understand. What next?!" That's when he saw his suburban coming up the road. "Guess one of the guys went to the city."

The truck was pulled up next to the house but the scariest part was the Ronin who came forth from it and what he had.

Ryo emerged from the truck, dressed in a pair of khakis, a crisp, button down shirt, and a blazer, his hair neatly arranged. (You imagine the hairstyle) In his hand was a humongous bag of every hair care product that existed from the store, _**Hair Today, Styled Tomorrow.**_

Kento's eyes went wide. "This can't be happening," he said.

"WHITE BLAZE!! GET BACK HERE, YOU STUPID TIGER!!!

Kento looked to another part of the yard to see a soaking wet White Blaze, running away from Sage, who wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and who's hair was disheveled. Sage was chasing the tiger until he fell into the mud, and decided to give up. He got up and made his way towards Kento, just as Ryo was.

"Hey buddy, how ya feelin' this fine day?" Sage asked. "Uh, great," Hardrock responded.

Suddenly, sinister laughter was heard. The trio looked at the furthermost point of the yard and saw the four warlords, smiling, but there was a different tone in their laughter.

Kento ran to the door, opened it, and yelled, "Guys! Talpa's attacking, get out here!" Within ten seconds, Cye and Rowen came out of the house and the five armored up.

But when the transformations were complete, Kento, once again, noticed that there was something very, _VERY_ wrong.

Cye donned the Strata armor, Rowen wore Torrent, Ryo the Halo, and Sage the Wildfire. "Today's the day you'll get your butts kicked back to the Nether Realm!" Sage proclaimed, taking out the twin katanas on his back.

"Not today Ronins."  
"TALPA!" Indeed, the leader of the Dynasty was standing in front of them. "What brings you to our door step?" asked Ryo.

"There will be no fighting, for today is a happy day," Talpa said, a hint of something new in his voice. It sounded like he was happy and hyper.

"What's the occasion?" asked Rowen, everyone except Kento lowering their weapons.

The Ancient appeared next to Talpa. "We've solved our differences..." Talpa started, the Ancient One taking his hand. "...And we've decided to elope," The old mage finished.

"AAAWWWW, HOW SWEET!!!!" All of the Ronins except Kento proclaimed.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING THE DYNASTY!!!" But no one heard him, because the Ronins were putting a tux on the Ancient and the Warlords were adorning Talpa in a wedding dress, as Kayura put a veil on Talpa's head.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"Kento...Kento....Kento......."

Kento bolted upright, breathing like he had just run the Marathon. He found himself back in his own room, safe and sound.

"Finally, you're awake."

Kento looked next to him and saw Cye sitting in a chair next to the bed, the other Ronins gathered behind him. Hardrock yelped and hid under the covers.

"Ken-chan?" Sage asked, lifting away the blankets. "What's wrong buddy? Did you have a bad dream?"

Kento was shaking, pointing to each Ronin as he stated each point in his dream. "You were cooking with out killing anything, you were reading stuff usually only Ro understands, you became the emperor of all that is hair care, and you were the leader. But that's not the scariest part."

"What was the worst part?" asked Ryo.

"**TALPA AND THE ANCIENT WERE ELOPING!!!"**

The others just stared at him. "Wow," Rowen finally said. Cye was the second one to come out of his shock. "Sounds like you had a whopper of a nightmare," he finally said. "We're glad you finally woke up," Sage said, handing Kento a glass of water that was sitting on the nightstand. Kento gratefully accepted it. "Why?" He gulped down the water, then placed the empty glass back in its place on the nightstand. "I just went to sleep a few hours ago."

"Kento," Cye said. "That was two days ago."

"W-what?"

"Your fever got pretty high the other night," Cye told him. "The next morning it stayed the same, that night it stayed the same, but somewhere around midnight, it got a little higher, reaching its peak, and stayed that way all yesterday. Your fever finally broke last night, which we're all thankful for. If it had gotten any higher, we would've had to have taken you to the hospital."

"How high was it?" asked Kento, somewhat confused.

"It got up to 105.4," Rowen said.

Kento was stunned by this. "I didn't know I was that sick," he said. Hardrock then noticed just how tired the others looked. "You guys have stayed up taking care of me, haven't you?" he asked, suddenly feeling guilty.

Cye smiled a little and nodded. "Why did you guys do that?" Kento asked. "It's a three day weekend, all of you had plans. You guys didn't have to-"

"But we _wanted_ to," Ryo told him, coming to the other side of the bed. He sat next to Kento. "You were really sick buddy, and if we were to just leave you and only watch, we probably would have one less Ronin, just because of neglect. Your fever most likely would've gone through the roof, if we had left you alone. We didn't want that, so we took care of you." He patted Kento on the back. "We just wanted to help."

Hardrock smiled, a look of sadness still in his eyes. "I'm still sorry," he said. "Don't worry about it amigo," Rowen said. "We're just glad you're okay now."

"Okay, now that you're awake, you need to eat," Cye said. "Are you hungry?" Kento nodded. "How does baked potato soup sound?" Kento's eyes lit up. "Sounds great!" Cye laughed, standing up. "I'll go heat some up for you," he said, ruffling Hardrock's hair, then leaving.

Rowen picked up a corner of one of the two blankets that had been added to Kento's bed. "Do you still need these?" Kento shook his head. "Okay then, I'll put these up." Rowen pulled the two blankets off the bed, folded them, venturing into the hall to return them to the closet from which they had come.

Sage gathered up the glass, a bowl, and the compress that had been sitting on Kento's nightstand. "I'll go put these up," he said, leaving the room.

Hardrock smiled a little and yawned. He laid back down, Ryo pulling the covers up. Wildfire then claimed the seat that Cye had been sitting in earlier.

"Kento?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I really become the emperor of all that is hair care?"

"You were dressed like Sage when he goes into town and had a bag full of stuff from that store he likes so much."

**The End!!!!**

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So...that's it! R&R please =D

P.S. I hope you guys thought it was funny. When I first wrote it, my editor and I couldn't stop laughing. So please leave a review?


	2. Chapter 2

Hallo thar! While the chapter you read before was originally a one-shot, I wrote this and didn't want to make a seperate story of it. So this chapter is focused on what happened during the time that our sick Ronin was asleep. So....try to enjoy!

And since the centering was acting up for this chapter, it's a tad screwed up

/phone speak/

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"Is he doing any better?"

Cye looked over his shoulder to see Rowen in the doorway. "No, sorry Ro, he's not," Torrent answered. He looked back down to Kento, who lay sleeping, fever still high.

"He hasn't gotten any worse, so that's a good thing-"

"EEP!"

Cye turned around fully this time and saw that Sage had popped up behind Rowen and had poked him in the sides. "DON'T DO THAT!!" Strata yelled. "What, this?" Sage asked, poking him again. Rowen squeaked again. "YES THAT!!!" he shouted.

"C'mon Rowen, you can't STILL be afraid after last winter."

"Yes I can! I never want to get near another snow bank as long as I live!"

"Can you two please stop?" Cye asked, noticing that Kento was beginning to stir.

"He started it!" Rowen exclaimed. "Did not!" Sage protested.

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"STOP IT!" Strata and Halo looked at Cye, standing from his seat, and they saw that he was clearly mad. "Kento needs to sleep, and he can't do that if YOU TWO are yelling loud enough to wake the Nether Realm!" Cye exclaimed.

Sage looked down at the floor, ashamed of himself. "Gomen nasai Mouri-san," he said formally, bowing. "I'm sorry too," Rowen said, bowing as well. The two retreated from the room, and Ryo came in. "Geez, what was that about?" he asked.

"Oh my," Cye realized. "I didn't mean to yell...it's just that I didn't want Kento to wake up..." He looked down at Hardrock's bed and saw that the warrior was beginning to awaken. Cye kneeled next to the bed. "Don't wake up my friend, just go back to sleep now," he softly said.

"But...someone's...fighting...." Kento said sleepily, eyes opening a slit.  
"Don't worry about it, it was just a bad dream," Torrent told him, stroking Hardrock's hair. "Just go back to sleep now."

"M'kay..." Kento answered. Worn out, he closed his eyes and settled back into sleep.

Suddenly, the sound of cars doors slamming was heard. "What have I done?" Cye asked himself, standing. "Hey Cye, its okay," Ryo told him. "If we know Sage and Rowen, they'll probably just cruise around the mall for a little while, or drive around. Besides, it is a weekend, there's not too many places they can go that aren't busy tonight."

Cye still looked sad and guilty. Finally, he spoke. "Can you watch Kento for a while?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm going for a swim, I need to think."

With that, Cye left. Ryo took the seat Cye had been sitting in and sat. "Why does this have to happen now?" he softly asked Hardrock. Of course Kento didn't answer...

_**----------------------------------**_

"Okay, now remind me again as to why we're doing this."

Sage shook his head, heading into the store, Rowen in tow. "I know of some remedies that can help Ken's fever come down," Sage said, looking for something. He headed to a corner of the store to see all kinds of tea on the shelves. "Ah, here we go." He pulled a small box off the shelf. "This kind of tea is supposed to help bring down fever," Sage told Rowen. "Better get a few boxes."

Rowen looked at the boxes that were handed to him. "Chamomile and green tea help make sick people better?"

Sage handed him two more boxes. "It's supposed to," Halo told him, pulling two more tea boxes off the shelf. "Now the only thing we need to do is apologize to Cye." They paid for the tea and left.

"What should we do?" Rowen asked.  
"About apologizing?" Sage said. "Well, we could get some dinner from his favorite restaurant."

"What if he's already ordered takeout by the time we get there?"

"Hmm, good point. What about an extravagant dessert?"  
"But what if instead, he made a cake or something?"

"How could he do that if the stove and oven are on the fritz?"

"I dunno, but he could. Y'know, pudding and whatever."

"You're a really difficult person to talk to about apologies, ya know that?"

_**--------------------------------**_

Ryo still sat in the chair he had been in. It had been about an hour or so, and Kento hadn't awakened. Wildfire hadn't heard any other noise in the house, so Cye wasn't home either. The only sounds that Ryo could hear were the purring noises that White Blaze was making while his master petted him, and the steady, even breathing coming from Kento.

Suddenly, he heard the phone ring. Ryo got up from his seat and went into the hallway, picking up the phone from the receiver.

"Hello, Koji residence, Ryo speaking."

/Ryo?/

"Hey, Mia! How's the conference in France?"

/Boring, as usual. None of these college conferences are _ever_ fun, you know that./

"I guess you're right."

/I know I am! How are things on your end?/

"Well, Kento's sick-"

/What? How did that happen?/

"We're not too sure, but he's sleeping right now. His fever was 102.5 when we last checked it."

/When did you check it last?/  
"About...oh, three, four hours ago."

/Why don't you check it again?/  
"Well, I've tried to wake him up to do that, but he just won't wake up, and I don't know why."

/It's his fever, because it's high, he'll sleep. I have a better idea anyway. Remember when Rowen had his tonsils taken out?/

"Yeah."

/And the doctors wanted us to check his temperature for a few days?/

"Uh-huh."

/And we couldn't use the mouth thermometer, so we bought the other one?/

"Oh yeah, now I remember. It's still in the medicine cabinet isn't it?"

/It should be. Now you won't have to wake Kento up to take his temperature, just stick it in his ear for one full second and you're done. Anyway, I have to go, another meeting is about to start. I'll try to call when I get back to my hotel./

"Kay, talk to ya later."  
/Bye! And tell Kento when he wakes up that I hope he feels better!/ *Click*

Ryo hung the phone up. He headed to the bathroom and started looking for the thermometer. He found it behind a box of Band-Aids and pulled it off the shelf. _Now I won't have to wake Kento up,_ he thought...

_**-----------------------------**_

Cye sat on the dock, drying himself off with his towel. _I guess I screwed up,_ he thought. He picked up his shirt and pulled it back on. _I really didn't mean to yell, I guess it just burst out of nowhere really. But, now what do I do?_

Torrent slipped his feet off the dock, to rest in the water. A few seconds later, a few little koi started to nibble on the bottom of Cye's feet. "Hey you guys, that tickles," Cye told them. They just looked up at him. "You want to know what's going on, don't you?"

Two of the fish rubbed themselves against Torrent's feet. "Well, you see, a friend of mine is sick, and two of my other friends started to argue, and...well, I did something I didn't mean to do. Now I don't know what to do."

The koi began to circle around his feet. Another fish swam up to them with a water lily in its mouth. All of the fish pushed the flower to Cye. The young warrior smiled and picked it up out of the water. "Thank you my friends, I know what I need to do now," he said, getting up from his seat on the dock. He picked up his towel and began to head back towards the house.

Cye soon made it back to the house and was encountered by Ryo, Sage and Rowen, who were all on the porch. "Hey guys, what's up?"

Wildfire spoke up. "It's Kento. His fever's getting higher."

Cye's eyes widened. "How high is it?" he asked fearfully.

"It's up to 104.5," Sage said. "He was throwing up when we got back. Odd thing is though, he didn't wake up."

"What do you mean?" Torrent questioned. "Well," Ryo started. "He was sleeping when, suddenly, he just broke into a coughing fit. I sat him up to help stop it, but his face looked a little green. I got the trashcan in front of him in time, and Sage 'n Rowen showed up just as he finished. Even though he was asleep during all of that, he looked like he was exhausted."

"How do you know that he didn't wake up?"

"He never once opened his eyes or anything," Ryo told him. "Now what do we do?" Rowen asked.  
"C'mon, let's go to back to Kento's room and we'll figure this out from there," Sage answered. The five went inside and upstairs....

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Cye sat in a chair next to Kento's bed, the warrior of Hardrock curled up in bed. Not too much had happened in the last two hours, and Torrent still hadn't gotten the chance to apologize to Sage and Rowen since.

Cye picked up the water lily that the fish had given him earlier and twirled it in his fingers. _I still need to apologize to them,_ he thought.

Suddenly, he heard the door creak open. Looking behind himself, Cye saw Sage with a cup in his hands. "Hey," Sage greeted, making his way to Kento's bed. "What's up?"

"Nothing really," Cye answered. Sage sat on Kento's bed. "What's that?"

"This?" Sage motioned the tea. Torrent nodded. "It's a tea I found while we were out. It's supposed to help bring down fevers, but I don't know if Kento's will. It might be too high now." Halo set the tea on the nightstand. "Can you help me sit him up so he can drink this?" he asked.

"Okay," Cye agreed, putting the lily down and sitting on the bed, facing Sage. He lifted Kento up a little bit, enough to where Halo could let Kento drink it with out choking him. While Sage administered the tea, Cye attempted a conversation.

"Hey Sage?"

"What is it Cye?"

"I'm...'m really sorry about shouting like I did earlier. I didn't mean to-"

"I know you didn't," Sage told him, letting some of the last few drops of tea trickle from the cup to Hardrock's mouth. "It's not in your nature to just yell like that with out a reason. And you _did_ have a very good reason. Rowen and I shouldn't have been shouting up here." Sage pulled the cup away and placed it on the nightstand, Torrent lowering Kento's head onto his lap.

"What's this?" Sage asked when he saw the lily, picking it up. "It's for you and Rowen," Cye told him. "I was talking to the fish in the lake and they brought this flower up to me. They wanted me to apologize to you guys and give you that. I was going to apologize anyway, but the fish suggested that I give that as a gift."

"Thanks Cye," Sage said, placing the lily back in its spot. "I'll show it to Rowen the next time I see him around here."

Cye smiled, but he suddenly felt the weight on his lap shift. He looked down at the slumbering warrior and felt sorry for him. "He's having a fever dream," Cye stated sadly.

Kento had broken out in a cold sweat, a look of pain upon his face. "No...no more..." he said quietly, his head tossing slightly on Cye's lap.

"Kento, wake up," Sage softly told him, brushing Hardrock's bangs away from his face. "C'mon Ken-chan, wake up."

Kento stopped tossing, moaning in pain. His eyes slowly opened, to reveal glazed over blue orbs, glassy because of the fever. But as soon as his eyes were open, he closed them again and fell back into a deep slumber.

"Poor guy," Sage commented. "Do you think he was awake?" Cye asked, as Sage stood and picked up the lily.  
"No, he was still asleep," Halo answered. "Even though he did open his eyes, they're completely glazed over because of sleep and fever...we just have to get rid of his fever soon, if it gets too high, he'll have to go to the emergency room, and he won't particularly like that." With that piece of opinion, Sage left.

Cye looked back down at Kento, not bothering to get up just yet so he wouldn't disturb the sick teen. _I just hope your fever doesn't get so high were we'll have to resort to that,_ he thought, stroking Hardrock's somewhat damp hair.....

--------------------------------------------------

**_At about 2:34 A.M......_**

Ryo, Rowen, and Cye all stood outside of the room that Torrent and Hardrock shared, listening for the gagging noises of sickness from inside to stop. Kento had started having a seizure because of the height his temperature was at. When Sage and the others had rushed in, Halo made Ryo and Rowen drag an unwilling Cye out of the room and into the hall so he could tend to Hardrock. Soon after the convulsion had taken place, Hardrock began vomiting, Sage staying to try and do what he could to help the sick teen.

Soon, the gagging from the room stopped. Halo emerged a few moments later, bandaging one of his hands. "What the heck just happened?" Cye asked, worried as hell.

"He bit me."

"WHAT?!" Was the response from Wildfire, Strata and Torrent. "Why did he bite you?" asked Rowen.

"It's okay, he didn't mean to," Sage told him. "I was trying to steady his head while he was still going through the seizure and my hand got caught in his mouth. It's my own fault really."

"But _why_ did he have it?" asked Ryo, who was suddenly curious by this. "Simple," Sage replied. "He's one of those people that has one when their fever reaches a certain point. They're not considered epileptics, but have the tendency to have one if their temperature is too high."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Cye asked. "He'll be fine," Sage reassured him, tying the bandage off. "He's sleeping right now, and by the way, we need another trash can in there now. In case, he gets sick again."

" 'M on it," Rowen stated, going in the room and coming out with the trashcan. With that, he went off to do his mission.

Cye looked into the room, Ryo behind him. "Go on," Sage told them. "He's just resting right now Cye, he's fine, even though he might look worse than he did." Torrent nodded and went in with Wildfire behind him.

Cye walked over to the bed and sat next to Kento, who was curled up in a ball, holding his stomach, but was asleep. _I'm sorry that this has to happen to you my friend,_ Cye thought, gently stroking Kento's hair. Wildfire pulled the blankets back up and around the warrior of Hardrock. "That should help him feel a bit warmer," Ryo said. Cye sighed. "Why does this have to happen to him Ryo?" he asked. Ryo shrugged. "I don't know Cye," he answered. "I just don't know.".....

**_-----------------------------------------_**

**_11:30 the next night....._**

After the seizure at two thirty the previous night, not much had happened. Kento's fever remained where it was, thanks to the tea Sage was administering, and he had been sleeping peacefully since then.

However, there's always a calm before the storm.

Sage was checking up on Kento, administering the tea, etc., while Cye dressed in his pajamas. "Do you think Kento will be okay soon?" Cye asked. "He will Cye, don't worry," Sage told him, pulling the cup away from Hardrock's lips. "We just have to let him rest up, his body is taking a toll because of this sickness."

A knock on the door was then heard. "S'open," Cye called. In came Ryo and Rowen, also in pajamas. "How is he?" asked Ryo, coming to the bed.

"He seems okay," Sage answered. "But there's something that seems off. I just have to take his temperature and then we'll declare whether we can leave him alone tonight or not." He picked up the thermometer and turned it on. Halo stuck it in Hardrock's ear, pushed the button and took the sick teen's temperature. But when he pulled it away and looked at what it was telling him, he gasped softly.

"Whatsa matter Sage?" asked Rowen. "Yeah Sage, did it get any lower?" Ryo questioned.

Sage answered with the three worst words that could be said at this point in time.

"It got higher."

"What?! Are you serious?!" Ryo exclaimed. Halo looked to them. "It's 105.4," he told him, a look of fear on Sage's face. "What do we do now?!" Cye asked frantically. "We've got to bring his fever down, right Sage?" Rowen said.

Sage nodded. "Rowen, go get all the ice packs you can find from the kitchen. Ryo, get a basin, fill it up with water, and grab a washcloth. Cye, you're going to help me. Move it!"

Rowen and Ryo ran out to do their assigned jobs.

"What do you want me to do Sage?" Cye asked. "First off, give me your pillow," Sage told him. Cye got it and handed it over to Halo. Sage picked up Kento and his own pillow gently. "This will help you breathe easier big guy," Halo said softly, placing Torrent's pillow down. He then lowered Hardrock back onto the bed and the now doubled headrests.

"I don't understand," Cye said. "Why did you say 'this will help you breathe easier'?" Sage motioned to the sick teen. "Look at his face and tell me what you see as you observe him." Cye looked confused, but did as Sage asked. His eyes widened when he realized what Sage was talking about.

Kento's eyebrows were knitted together and he looked as if he were concentrating heavily. His mouth moved a little to help the breathing process, and sweat was glistening upon his brow. "He's having trouble breathing," Cye said, now afraid for his friend. Sage nodded. "If his fever comes down, then he wouldn't have any trouble but..."

"But what?"  
"I don't know how long it could take for his fever to come down, even a little bit."

-------------------------------------------------

The rest of the night passed, and the darkness faded into light and back into twilight. The four remaining Ronins did their best during that time to bring down the sick warrior's temperature, but it wasn't until later that their acts paid off.

It was around eleven when Ryo came in to check up on Kento. Cye sat with the warrior of Hardrock, his head on Torrent's lap, Cye bathing Kento's face with cool water. "How is he?" asked Ryo. "I don't know," Cye answered truthfully. "Sage and Rowen haven't come back from the store yet, and I'm starting to get worried. Sage is supposed to check on Kento when he gets back-"

"Then let me check him."

Torrent and Wildfire looked to the door and saw Strata and Halo there. "Sorry we took so long, traffic in town was bad," Rowen said. Sage walked over to the bed. "Any changes?" he asked. "Well, he hasn't had any trouble breathing like he has been," Cye said.

"Then it's a good thing," Sage said, picking up the ear thermometer from the nightstand. He kneeled next to the bed. "Okay big guy, let's see what's going on." He took the warrior's temperature and looked at what it was telling him. A big smile appeared on his face. "What is it Sage?" asked Cye.

"His fever broke!" Halo said excitedly.

The other three warriors were joyous. "You serious Sage? His fever's really gone?" asked Ryo. "It's really gone Ryo," Sage told him.

"Thank goodness," Cye said, taking the compress away and putting it on the nightstand.

Suddenly, a small, sleepy moan was heard. The warriors turned their attention to Kento, who was trying to open his eyes. They slowly fluttered open, revealing half-open, slightly glazed over blue orbs. "Hey," Hardrock greeted, still too sleepy to comprehend what was going on. Sage sat on the bed, next to Kento, while Rowen and Ryo knelt next to it. "How ya feeling Kento?" asked Ryo, smoothing out Hardrock's disheveled hair. Kento moaned a little. "Sleepy?" he answered, unsure at the moment. "Why does my tongue hurt?"

Cye laid a hand on the side of the formerly sick teen's face. "Hey Kento." Hardrock looked up at him. "Hi Cye," he said sleepily. Torrent smiled. "Go back to sleep you big goofball, when you wake up again, you'll feel much better."  
Kento smiled a warm, but goofy smile. His eyes closed and he fell back into a deep slumber, his head rolling a little on Cye's lap.

"You think he'll remember waking up?" asked Rowen, who pulled Hardrock's blankets up a little. "Probably not," Sage answered. "He was too tired to understand what was going on. But I could be wrong. We'll just have to wait until he wakes up again."

------------------------------------------

And once again, darkness turned into light. It was well into the morning now, and the warriors stayed vigil to Kento's side. "You think he'll wake up soon?" asked Rowen.  
"I hope so," Sage said, standing up to stretch his legs.

"Do you think he'll be upset that he missed these last two days?" Ryo pondered. "If we know Kento, he'll be upset with us, as well as the fact that the weekend's almost over," Cye said. "But, maybe not-"

"..wuz wrong....with you people?"

Ryo and Rowen bolted off the floor. "Is he waking up?" asked Wildfire. "It sure seems that way," Cye said, watching Kento.

"....wuz goin' on here?" Hardrock asked, still asleep. "Kento, you need to wake up," Cye spoke softly. "C'mon Kento, open your eyes Kento."

Kento suddenly bolted upright, breathing like he had just run the Marathon, eyes wandering around the room, looking completely out of it.

"Finally, you're awake," Cye said happily. Kento looked at the warrior sitting in a chair next to his bed, the other Ronins gathered behind him. Hardrock yelped and hid under the covers. "Ken-chan?" Sage asked, lifting away the blankets. "What's wrong buddy? Did you have a bad dream?"

Kento was shaking, pointing at each Ronin. "You were cooking with out killing anything, you were reading stuff usually only Ro understands, you became the emperor of all that is hair care, and you were the leader. But that's not the scariest part."

"What was the worst part?" asked Ryo, confused by this.

"**TALPA AND THE ANCIENT WERE ELOPING!!!!!!!!!"**

The others just stared at him. "Wow," Rowen finally said. Cye was the second one to come out of his shock. "Sounds like you had one whopper of a nightmare," he finally said.

"We're glad you finally woke up," Sage said, handing Kento a glass of water that was sitting on the nightstand. Kento gratefully accepted it. "Why?" He gulped down the water, then placed the empty glass back in its place on the nightstand. "I just went to sleep a few hours ago."

The others looked at each other uneasily before Cye answered.

"Kento, that was two days ago."

The warrior of Hardrock looked stunned and confused. "W-what?"

"Your fever got pretty high the other night," Cye told him. "The next morning it stayed the same, that night it stayed the same, but somewhere around midnight, it got a little higher, reaching its peak, and stayed that way all yesterday. Your fever finally broke last night, which we're all thankful for. If it had gotten any higher, we would've had to have taken you to the hospital."

"How high was it?" asked Kento, looking confused.

"It got up to 105.4," Rowen said.

Kento was stunned by this. "I didn't know I was that sick," he said. Hardrock's face saddened. "You guys have stayed up taking care of me, haven't you?" he asked. Cye smiled a little and nodded.

"Why did you guys do that?" Kento asked. "It's a three day weekend, all of you had plans. You guys didn't have to-"

"But we _wanted_ to," Ryo told him, coming to the other side of the bed. He sat next to Kento. "You were really sick buddy, and if we were to just leave you and only watch, we probably would have one less Ronin, just because of neglect. Your fever most likely would've gone through the roof, if we had left you alone. We didn't want that, so we took care of you." He patted Kento on the back. "We just wanted to help."

Hardrock smiled a sad smile. "I'm still sorry," he said. "Don't worry about it amigo," Rowen said, patting his shoulder. "We're just glad you're okay now."

"Okay, now that you're awake, you need to eat," Cye said. "Are you hungry?" Kento nodded. "How does baked potato soup sound?" Kento's eyes lit up. "Sounds great!" Cye laughed, standing up. "I'll go heat some up for you," he said, ruffling Hardrock's hair, then leaving. Rowen picked up a corner of one of the two blankets that had been added to Kento's bed. "Do you still need these?" Kento shook his head. "Okay then, I'll put these up." Rowen pulled the two blankets off the bed, folded them, then ventured into the hall to return them to the closet from which they had come.

Sage gathered up the glass, a bowl, and the compress that had been sitting on Kento's nightstand. "I'll go put these up," he said, leaving the room.

Hardrock smiled a little and yawned. He laid back down, Ryo pulling the covers back up over the formerly sick teen, then claimed the seat that Cye had been sitting in earlier.

"Kento?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I really become the emperor of all that is hair care?"

Kento smiled. "You were dressed like Sage when he goes into town and had a bag full of stuff from that store he likes so much."

**The End!!!!**


End file.
